Out of the total 56 cities that were tracked by the Assocham Placement Pattern (APP), Tier II and Tier III cities have cornered 38.8 per cent (total 17 cities Tier II cities) and 23 per cent (total 33 Tier III cities) share of the job space respectively in the financial year 2010-11. Whereas Tier I cities, mainly Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore have emerged as the fastest job generating cities in India during the past couple of years. During the FY 2011, estimated 2,49,779 number of jobs were created by fuelling a growth of 38.2 per cent over the corresponding period of last year.

In 2010-11 about 2,53,702 jobs were created in Tier II cities, which recorded a growth of 38.8 per cent over the corresponding period of last fiscal. Majorly 1,89,756 employment ware generated in Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Surat in the last one year.

During 2010-2011, Tier III cities showed a growth of 23 per cent on account of 1,50,391 job creations. Allahabad, Udaipur, Agra, Ajmer, Kota and Meerut are the major cities among the tier III cities which showed a high growth in job placements.

Tier I cities:

Among the Tier I cities Delhi-NCR and Mumbai recorded highest share in providing job opportunities with 39 per cent and 13.8 per cent share in total job creation respectively. As compared to the April-March 2009-10, Delhi/ NCR registered growth of 15.3 per cent in job creation whereas Mumbai registered 11.1 per cent growth in job creation during April-March 2010-11.

Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have 9.7 per cent, 5.6 per cent, 5.4 per cent and 4 per cent share in total job creations in Tier I cities. Hyderabad and Kolkata registered growth of 10 per cent and 7.3 per cent during FY 11 over FY 10. Bangalore and Chennai registered growth of 5.6 per cent and 4.1 per cent share in total job creation respectively, during FY 11.

Tier II cities

As per the analysis of the study, 17 major Tier II cities recorded highest growth of 38.8 per cent share in total employment generation. Among the Tier II cities during FY 11, Bhubaneshwar and Pune recorded 42.2 per cent and 19.7 per cent growth in job creation as compared to same period of last year.

Among the other major tier II cities Chandigarh, Lucknow and Surat recorded growth of 12.2 per cent, 10.8 per cent and 8.8 per cent share in total job creation during the analyzed period.

Other tier II cities which showed growth in employment generation during April to March 2010-11 over the previous year were Jaipur (6.68 per cent), Vishakhapatnam (5.5 per cent), Indore (4.33 per cent), Nagpur (4 per cent), Cochin (3.35 per cent), Ludhiana (3.28 per cent), Bhopal (2.21 per cent), Amritsar (2.13 per cent) and Gwalior (2 per cent).

Tier III cities

The analysis of the tier III cities shows that 18 cities out of 33 cities registered a heavy growth in job creation during FY 11 as compared to the same period of the last year. The 33 major tier III cities accounted for 23 per cent share in total employment generation during the period. Among the tier III cities, Allahabad, Udaipur, Agra, Ajmer and Kota are top leading cities which recorded major growth of 69.6 per cent, 62.5 per cent 60.9 per cent, 49.3 per cent and 45.6 per cent during the period respectively. As compared to the same period of last year, Meerut and Kanpur registered 38.5 per cent and 26.8 per cent growth.

Whereas majorly Tier III cities, which registered decline in job creation during April-March 2010-11 as compared to the same period of 2009-10 were Shillong (64.2 per cent), Dhanbad (34.6 per cent), Hoshiarpur (27.8 per cent), Ambala (24.2 per cent), Vijayawada (18.7 per cent), Jalandhar (13 per cent) and Raipur (12.8 per cent).

Taiwan-based NuLight Corporation plans to invest $200 million (around Rs 900 crore) on setting up a light emitting diode (LED) manufacturing unit in the state. The unit will manufacture LED street lamps and household bulbs.

“Initially, we will invest $10 million and later scale it up to $900 million on the LED manufacturing unit in the state. Orissa as well as India has a vast market for LED street lamps and household bulbs. It will be cost-effective and energy-efficient”, S S Lin, chairman of NuLight Corporation said at a press meet held on the occasion of ‘Invest Bhubaneswar-Orissa Symposium’.

The company also intends to set up an R&D (Research and Development) centre in the state on LED systems. Lin claimed that LED lighting systems can bring down power consumption by 70-80 per cent.

Daniel Lin, director, NuLight Corporation said, “We also have plans to build a green township in the state but details have not been finalized.”

Another senior functionary from Nulight Corporation said that his company is exploring the possibilities to invest and transfer technology to make Bhubaneswar a green city. “We are talking with Indian players to work together on this project.” he said.

This is wonderful news for several reasons. The Odisha government should help in speedy establishment of this and not make any hype about it. The reason this is wonderful is:

Taiwan is a country of business owners.

Taiwan invests a huge amount in China and other asian countries.

Taiwan is a leader in electronics manufacturing and is earning names in semiconductor manufacturing.

While there are IT hubs, auto hubs, etc. in India, India still does not have an electronic hub. So if Odisha plays it right it could go from one Taiwaneese electronics company to many and distinguish itself. It needs to be vigilant on the environmental aspects from day 1.

Taiwanese companies such as semiconductor foundry TSMC design and make many of the most advanced components that go into modern electronics. And increasingly, firms such as HTC, Acer and Asus are taking the next step up the value chain and establishing themselves as consumer brands in their own right.

Rushab Ship International Consultant is in talks with the Odisha government to introduce a passenger-cum-cargo cruise from Puri to Kolkatta in next three to six months with an investment of Rs 100 crore.

Addressing on the second day of the Invest Bhubaneswar, Rashmikant Kamdar, president, Rushab Ship International Consultant said, “We are having one or two vessels for this purpose. We are in talks with the state government and expect to finalise the deal soon.”

The cruise can be used for multi purpose for ferrying passengers and cargo. There will be entertainment facility also for the passenger, he said.

Kamdar said that we are also planning to have ship breaking place in Odisha. Odia labourers are working as ship breakers in Alang in Gujarat. “They can be employed in the ship breaking place in Odisha”, he said.

Bhubaneswar-based BRM Group plans to open more boutique hotels in Orissa including Bhubaneswar and Puri. The Group will spend Rs 100 crore for both the properties, which are scheduled to open by the end of this year. The hotel in Bhubaneswar will have 35 rooms, while the Puri hotel will have 40 rooms. Recently, the Group has launched their first hotel in Cuttack named as Hotel Triple C.

According to Dr Biswajit Mohanty, Chairman, BRM Group, the Group will become a 120-key hotel chain by the end of 2011. … The Group also plans to go out of Orissa to destinations like Darjeeling, Goa, in future.

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), which is going to start its Orissa chapter soon, has recommended a slew of measures to the Orissa government to give the much needed fillip to entrepreneurship in the state.

TiE has suggested the state government to set up an incubation centre and also put in place a Seed Fund to promote entrepreneurship in a big way.

"I had discussions with the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on creating a conducive atmosphere for entrepreneurship. What we have suggested is that the state can set up an incubation centre for the first generation entrepreneurs and this centre has to be run by competent professionals. Moreover, a Seed Fund has to be created by the state for funding the entrepreneurial ventures", Venkatesh Shukla, member of the board of TiE told Business Standard.

The state government also needs to rope in Non-Resident Oriyas settled overseas to lend their expertise to the upcoming entrepreneurs in the state, Shukla, who visited the state recently, said.

"What I also emphasized during my talks with the Chief Minister that there is an institutional bias against the start-ups and home grown entrepreneurs and this mindset has to be changed as small businesses create nearly 80 per cent of the jobs. For instance in procurement of IT hardware, a level playing field needs to be created for the local entrepreneurs so that they are not eliminated at the pre-qualification stage", he added.

Shukla pointed out that the rules and procedures for the small businesses and the start-ups need to be eased as any FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) no matter how massive it is, can bring sustainable development for the society.

Venk Shukla in other places has given example of what he refers to as "institutional bias against the start-ups and home grown entrepreneurs". I can not locate his exact writing in the subject now, but what he refers to is that in many government tenders there are often requirments that an applying company need to satisfy and such requirement often are such that the local start-ups and home grown entrepreneurs do not satisfy.

As a result two things are happening:

(i) Local start-ups and home grown entrepreneurs are often left behind.

(ii) Corruption creeps in when someone in the decision making decides to favor a local start-up and/or an home grown entrepreneur.

In contrast, in the US various authorities (cities, states, etc.) officially set aside certain percentage of their tenders for business owned by special groups, such as small businesses, minorities, women-owned etc. That way one can legally favor and promote local start-ups and home grown entrepreneurs.

When giving big contracts the authorities may also require that sub-contracts of certain size must be given to home grown entrepreneurs. This is also done in various US jurisdictions. Following are some links that may be useful to look at: